Not so friendly reminder that musk specifically came up with, and pushed, for hyperloop knowing that it would never be made, as an effort to stop the development of highspeed rail in America and shift all political discussions of it because “something better is around the corner”:
As I’ve written in my book, Musk admitted to his biographer Ashlee Vance that Hyperloop was all about trying to get legislators to cancel plans for high-speed rail in California—even though he had no plans to build it. Several years ago, Musk said that public transit was “a pain in the ass” where you were surrounded by strangers, including possible serial killers, to justify his opposition.
Also: 2024 update, the total length of China’s high-speed rail tracks has now reached well over 45,000 km, or 28,000 miles, by the end of 2023.
They are additionally five years ahead of schedule and expect to double the total number within ten years. And, before someone inevitably complains about “how expensive it is”, they are turning over a net-profit of over $600M USD a year.
That’s exactly what my interpretation was.
You’ve leaped to the notion that Chinese trains are somehow an untested technology. They’re using technologies that have been developed and tested around the world for well over a century. No one is perfect, but they do seem to be implementing them quite well.
The funny thing about your car analogy is, guess what? China makes cars too! And they’re getting solid safety ratings: https://www.euroncap.com/en/results/byd/seal/50012